Science students display projects for trustees

California State University officials got a chance on Jan. 24 to review science projects by three Sacramento State students and others from throughout the CSU system.

Katy Janes, Shannon Waters and Emilie Zelazo, along with the other students, displayed posters in Long Beach in conjunction with the CSU Board of Trustees meeting. Also invited to the exhibition were Chancellor Charles Reed, vice chancellors, university presidents, statewide academic senate executive officers and CSSA officers.

The display was organized by San Francisco State’s Krista Kamer, director of the Council for Ocean Affairs, Science and Technology affinity group. The posters outline the students’ research projects on river, coastal and ocean topics.

Waters’ project was “Life or Death for the Salton Sea?” a study of the reproductive ability of fish in the extremely salty water of the inland California sea.

Zelazo compiled data to determine the effect of traditional resource management practices of the Plains Miwok and other Native Californians on native fish in the floodplain of the Cosumnes River and the Delta.

Janes’ project, co-authored by graduate student Jay Heffernan, studies how the habitat of spawning salmon in the American River has been affected by restoration work the last two years.

Accompanying the three Sacramento State students were professors Ron Coleman, Tim Horner and Michelle Stevens.

“This shows that despite an extraordinarily challenging environment in which to do research, working with little time and fewer resources, our students and faculty still perform important research,” says Coleman.